An Action Plan to Tackle Gambling Harms in Glasgow City using a Whole System Approach

In September 2021, Glasgow City Council hosted a virtual summit to share knowledge, insights and ideas on tackling gambling harms. This was attended by over 200 delegates. As part of the summit's legacy, Glasgow City Council committed to establishing and leading a multi-agency group working in partnership to co-produce, deliver, and evaluate a city-wide strategy and co-ordinate a local action plan to prevent and reduce gambling harms.  This builds on the project work funded by the UK Gambling commission to develop a whole system approach to tackling harms in the Glasgow area which has been underway since 2020.

The Glasgow Gambling Harm Multi-Agency Group has now been running since March 2022.  It has been chaired by Bernadette Monaghan, Director of Community Empowerment and Equalities and includes membership from the Glasgow HSCP, Glasgow Council for Voluntary Sector, Health and Social Care Alliance, Glasgow Life and Public Health Scotland.  The Group has now completed its action plan to support the delivery of a whole system strategic approach.  It focuses on the following key actions:

• Engaging a wider community in understanding and raising awareness of gambling related harms
• Challenging shame and stigma
• Focusing on children and young people through challenging the normalisation of gambling and increasing awareness of the risks and links between gambling and gaming
• Developing our understanding of risks and harms amongst priority groups and communities such as women, black and minority ethnic groups and those at risk of homelessness
• Exploring opportunities to work in partnership to increase confidence to ask about gambling harms and improve knowledge about support
• Build the understanding of how people experience harms from gambling to inform peer led and informal support
• Creating a community led movement to support campaigns that advocate for local action and changes to national legislation
• Gathering and developing the evidence around gambling harms and sharing the learning locally, nationally and internationally.

Delivery of these actions will be supported by the various organisations represented on the Group, with potentially new members being invited to join to complement the activities already underway.

Full details of the Action Plan can be found here:  GRH Action Plan Summary March 2023 [104kb]

If you would like to hear more about this work as it develops, please contact cpp@glasgow.gov.uk